Recently I was a featured artist in the Ian Potter Cultural Trust’s annual report. I am deeply indebted to the trust for their support of my MFA studies at Warren Wilson. Their grants program made my attendance possible, and I’m truly grateful for their assistance!
I was incredibly lucky to have recently been invited to attend the second Contemporary Asian Australian Performance (CAAP) Artist Lab, this time under the brilliant stewardship of Tessa Leong and Sandi Woo. The inaugural Artist Lab at the end of 2020 fostered the collaboration between myself and my director Nate Gilkes on ‘The Red Dust’ and the Institute of Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture (IAC) at Western Sydney University, who contributed both subtitles and Chinese musical instrumentation to the show. Returning to the second Artist Lab, which was held at Sydney Theatre Company, was just as an invigorating experience as the first, as I got to know a new batch of Asian Australian performance artists as well as share and learn new skills.
Jules Pek-Lowther and Nate Gilkes performing selections from ‘The Red Dust'. Photo by Xiang Zhang.
We were also extremely lucky to be invited by the IAC to perform selections from ‘The Red Dust’ at the opening of legendary Chinese Australian photographer and performance artist William Yang’s latest exhibition, ‘Claiming Heritage.’ Having recently performed his most recent one-man show ‘Gay Sydney: A Memoir’ at the Seymour Centre to great acclaim, we were very lucky to watch William perform a short excerpt from the show alongside photos which also feature in his exhibition. We were then incredibly honoured to perform songs from ‘The Red Dust’ at the opening, which also features themes of growing up as a Chinese Australian, and also, ironically, climbing mountains! Many thanks to Jing Han and Dr. Nicholas Ng from IAC and Tessa Leong from CAAP for their involvement.
’Claiming Heritage’ runs until May 5th at Parramatta South Campus, Western Sydney University, so be sure to check it out!
Tessa Leong (Artistic Directo of CAAP), Jules Pek-Lowther (performer), myself, William Yang, Dr. Nicholas Ng (Chinese musical instrument performer and composer), and Nate Gilkes (composer and director)
Again, I’m late to post this, but I’m so happy to say I was able to attend this year’s Tin House Summer Workshop in person after two years of virtual conferences! Thanks to the incredible generosity of the Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund, I spent one week at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, studying with the inimitable Paisley Rekdal, former Poet Laureate of Utah and all-round impressive human bean. I was also immensely grateful to meet friends old and new in an invigoratingly progressive space while learning new skills.
I was also lucky enough to begin my studies at the low-residency MFA creative writing program at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina! It’s long been a dream of mine to study at Warren Wilson, whose alumni include Victoria Chang, Reginald Dwayne Betts, and A. Van Jordan, and I was terrifically excited to finally begin in July—and at a residency to remember, no less (bears, fires, fireflies, and covid, oh my!). I’m currently moving into the second half of the semester and I’m really thrilled with my progress so far.
Speaking of long-held dreams, I recently published a poem in wildness, a UK online literary journal offshoot of Platypus Press. I’ve been reading wildness and its stunning poems about desire since I began writing poetry seriously, so it was a real delight to be published there.
I also joined Four Way Review as an associate poetry editor under the ever accomplished Sara Elkamel recently, and it’s so far been a blast! The first issue I worked on was the Summer 2022 issue, and I’m really proud of all the poets who were featured in it.
That’s all for now! More news soon!
I feel incredibly grateful to have recently been awarded a Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund grant from Writers Victoria to attend the 2022 Tin House Summer Workshop. Many, many thanks to Writers Victoria and the Myer Foundation for their support and the panel, which included author Ronnie Gorrie, writer and editor Radhiah Chowdhury, and publisher and previous Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund recipient Arwen Summers.
Although I have been lucky enough to attend Tin House virtually in the past, this time will be the first time I’ll be attending in person. Tin House Summer Workshop is an annual competitive writers’ conference of workshops, lectures, and readings run by Tin House Books in Portland, Oregon. I’m really looking forward to being able to learn and discuss poetry in a progressive and rigorous US environment (with Paisley Rekdal, no less!), as well as to meet some online poetry friends for the first time in the flesh!
After many pandemic delays and false starts, The Red Dust is back on (tickets here)! Reimagined as an intimate physical theatre performance alongside the original vision of music, poetry and text, the show will be performed at Ku-Ring-Gai Town Hall with elders from Chinese Australian Services Society (CASS).
Our team has changed up a little but it’s still being directed and composed by the tireless Nate Gilkes, with traditional Chinese music composition and performance by Dr Nicholas Ng, movement and choreography by Jia-wei Zhu, lighting design by Benjamin Brockman, assistant direction by Alexandra Sharps, and subtitles in Mandarin and English by the team at the Institute of Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture at Western Sydney University, headed by Professor Jing Han.
The show follows Chinese Australian teen Talia in a near future where Sydney is continuously covered by a red dust storm. Much like the Chinese term hóng chén 红尘, which refers to the world of desires and distractions, Talia is often so distracted by ‘the red dust’ of her online life that she neglects to realise her climate scientist mother has gone missing on a trip to find the last blue gum trees. Through poetry, music, dance and physical theatre, Talia is challenged with ‘seeing through the red dust’ as she embarks on a journey to the Blue Mountains to find her mother.
We just started rehearsals and I’m so excited to be working with the kids at Marian St, as well as Robyn Clark, who will play the lead role of Talia.
Where: Ku-ring-gai Town Hall, 1186 Pacific Hwy, Pymble NSW 2073, Australia
When: Wednesday 13th July 10.30am and 1.30pm, Thursday 14th July 10.30am and 1.30pm, Friday 15th July 1.30pm and 7.30pm, and Saturday 16th July 7.30pm
Who: All ages!
Cost: $20
Tickets: Here!
I’m performing at this lovely concert organised by Paul Castles on 7.30pm on May 30th at the Annandale Creative Arts Centre. If you’re in Sydney at the end of May, it would be lovely to see you there!
Here’s our little spiel:
Formed in response to the lost bond of intimacy between neighbours during lockdown, HERE explores the theme of locality and transition through a collaboration between words, music, and visuals.
Original poetry and integrative art unify the quiet story of HERE and its reflections on place, identity, and and the act of re-gathering in the wake of change. Interwoven musical compositions including 4 world premieres are brought to life by the unique colours of harp, recorder, saxophone, and piano.
You can read a conversation between classical music website ClassikON and Paul featuring one of my poems from the concert here.
Also, here’s an interview with Paul by classical music magazine CutCommon discussing our collaboration.
I’ll be performing poetry from a song cycle Paul and I featured at the CAAP Longhouse, as well as some new poems. Hope to see you there!
I’m so very excited to share the details about my first big show, The Red Dust at Marian St Theatre for Young People! I’ve been working on this show with Artistic Director Nate Gilkes for over a year now, and I’m very excited that it’s going to have its world premiere at The Concourse in Chatswood in September. The show will feature poetry, music, dance and animations, performers from the Chinese Australian Senior Service (CASS) and subtitling from the Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture at Western Sydney University. It would be great if you came along! Details below, and you can book here:
Where: Chatswood Concourse, 409 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, NSW, 2067
When: 10:30 and 1pm on 22nd September, and 2pm and 6pm on 23rd September
Who: Recommended for ages 8+
Cost: $35 each, or $30 per person in a group of 4 (all attendees over 24 months must have a ticket)
I’m also the Writer in Residence this year at Marian St, and I’m looking forward to mentoring three Young Artists in Residence over the remainder of the year. They’re all very talented folks and I’m very excited to be working with them.